Random Beer Thoughts

[Josh2]

Anyone planning on making any New Years Beers Resolutions?

No

 

[AndresR]

I've been using fresh vanilla beans for over a decade for cooking, baking, etc. I stopped buying them over 1.5 years ago when the shortage hit and the prices quadrupled. Sucks. But, I just saw this pic and all I could think was how terrible those beans look! Super dryed out and un-happy looking.

Man, the state of vanilla beans is sad.....


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[reverseapachemaster1]

I've been using fresh vanilla beans for over a decade for cooking, baking, etc. I stopped buying them over 1.5 years ago when the shortage hit and the prices quadrupled. Sucks. But, I just saw this pic and all I could think was how terrible those beans look! Super dryed out and un-happy looking.

Man, the state of vanilla beans is sad.....


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Possibly grade B beans?

 

[jivex5k1]

 

[coach1]

For some reason they omitted from that paragraph the first line they used in their fb post:

After centuries of development in and around Belgium, sour beers have arrived in the United States

I'm so glad a brewer in the U.S. finally figured out how to use brett and lacto and introduce this mythical style to us!

 

[drgarage1]

For some reason they omitted from that paragraph the first line they used in their fb post:



I'm so glad a brewer in the U.S. finally figured out how to use brett and lacto and introduce this mythical style to us!

I like that they called lacto a wild yeast!

 

[AndresR]

$25 bottle of plain jane stout.

Word.


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[JulianB1]

$25 bottle of plain jane stout.

Word.


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I'm trying to think of any comparables. Dark Lord I guess is $20? (depending on how one subdivides the ticket cost) for a slightly smaller bottle. Something like Avery Mephistopeles a few years back was in the same ballpark once adjusting for bottle size, although still probably closer to $20 than $25. Don't recall what Darkness cost pre barrel-aging days.

 

[furley]

I'm trying to think of any comparables. Dark Lord I guess is $20? (depending on how one subdivides the ticket cost) for a slightly smaller bottle. Something like Avery Mephistopeles a few years back was in the same ballpark once adjusting for bottle size, although still probably closer to $20 than $25. Don't recall what Darkness cost pre barrel-aging days.

just passed on a bottle of Darkness for $22

 

[jivex5k1]

$25 bottle of plain jane stout.

Word.


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**** that.

 

[JulianB1]

just passed on a bottle of Darkness for $22

Is Darkness still released in a non-BA version? I thought for some reason it was all barrel-aged now, although I could certainly be wrong on that.

 

[NClambicguy]

I'm trying to think of any comparables. Dark Lord I guess is $20? (depending on how one subdivides the ticket cost) for a slightly smaller bottle. Something like Avery Mephistopeles a few years back was in the same ballpark once adjusting for bottle size, although still probably closer to $20 than $25. Don't recall what Darkness cost pre barrel-aging days.

You aren’t accounting for the 150 bottle count which depending on the weather, traffic and mule capacity, can drive up the cost of production in the neighborhood of 30-80%.

 

[furley]

Is Darkness still released in a non-BA version? I thought for some reason it was all barrel-aged now, although I could certainly be wrong on that.

bottle didn't clearly say barrel-aged but maybe i just didn't look closely enough

 

[sjstraub]

Is Darkness still released in a non-BA version? I thought for some reason it was all barrel-aged now, although I could certainly be wrong on that.

bottle didn't clearly say barrel-aged but maybe i just didn't look closely enough

Pretty sure regular Darkness is not BA. There was one year where they blended some BA Darkness in with the regular release, but that was about 5 or 6 years ago.

BA Darkness (gold wax - so you know it's good) is pretty widely is released sometime after regular Darkness. It's got a $35 price tag. At least that is what it is here in Wisconsin.

 

[litheum94]

$25 bottle of plain jane stout.

Word.


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I'll just get 3 4 packs of Old Raspy, thanks.

 

[JulianB1]

I'll just get 3 4 packs of Old Raspy, thanks.

My second thought on seeing that price tag, after first wondering about comparably/highly-priced non BA stouts, was "wow that's what I paid for a 4-pack of BA Expedition."

 

[jbeezification1]

My second thought on seeing that price tag, after first wondering about comparably/highly-priced non BA stouts, was "wow that's what I paid for a 4-pack of BA Expedition."

I saw a bottle of Tweak for $13 today. I turned around and grabbed a 4 pack of FBS for $10 instead.

 

[WhalezB4Rarez]

Why has no one gifted me a supporting membership yet?

 

[jivex5k1]

Why has no one gifted me a supporting membership yet?

Merry Christmas.

 

[Der Fuchs]

Merry Christmas.

******* lol.

 

[Wassailwilly]

https://massbrewbros.com/41-things-that-happened-in-craft-beer-this-year-2018-review/

My answer to question #27 is HELL NO !!

 

[JulianB1]

https://massbrewbros.com/41-things-that-happened-in-craft-beer-this-year-2018-review/

My answer to question #27 is HELL NO !!

And to cap it all off, in December Beer Advocate had a first-of-its-kind festival that poured – you guessed it – nothing but IPAs.

The Veil hosted a festival of this exact kind in the summer of 2016 and again the year later, and I'm sure they weren't the first to do it.

 

[falc0n26001]

The Veil hosted a festival of this exact kind in the summer of 2016 and again the year later, and I'm sure they weren't the first to do it.

The Bistro would like to have a word. Nearly 20 years now.

http://www.the-bistro.com/

 

[trickytunadicky]

Most festivals are mostly Pale Ales/IPAs because they are cheap, sessionable and popular. So, basically every beer festival is this. snooze.

 

[Gonzoillini1]

Most festivals are mostly Pale Ales/IPAs because they are cheap, sessionable and popular. So, basically every beer festival is this. snooze.

I'd massively disagree (at least speaking for Chicagoland / greater Midwest) in that most beer festivals are thinly veiled advertisements for particular distributors where the consumers foot the bill, and the goal is to drive sales to brands in those particular distributors portfolios.

However, the worthwhile festivals (Great Taste of the Midwest, FOBAB, Michigan Winter Brew Fest, Great Lakes Brewfest and I'm sure there are many more) are generally not examples of this kind of thing (the Pale Ale / IPA centric thing).

Festivals are a weird area that has little value to larger breweries (unless they are coming into a new market), and demands a lot of investment from smaller breweries.

Also you and me are way more jaded than many of our peers when it comes to summer festival season which definitely clouds both of our opinions (for different reasons to be sure).

 

[WhalezB4Rarez]

Merry Christmas.

Oh my.

 

[trickytunadicky]

I'd massively disagree (at least speaking for Chicagoland / greater Midwest) in that most beer festivals are thinly veiled advertisements for particular distributors where the consumers foot the bill, and the goal is to drive sales to brands in those particular distributors portfolios.

However, the worthwhile festivals (Great Taste of the Midwest, FOBAB, Michigan Winter Brew Fest, Great Lakes Brewfest and I'm sure there are many more) are generally not examples of this kind of thing (the Pale Ale / IPA centric thing).

Festivals are a weird area that has little value to larger breweries (unless they are coming into a new market), and demands a lot of investment from smaller breweries.

Also you and me are way more jaded than many of our peers when it comes to summer festival season which definitely clouds both of our opinions (for different reasons to be sure).

I once thought like you. I really did.

So fun fact: I actually took the time to go through the GTMW program and put all of the offerings into a table for my stats class two or three years ago. Anything with Pale Ale in the style overwhelmed everything else. By a wide margin. It disproved my thesis by a lot because I don’t drink very much of the stuff so I was missing just how much of it there was.

I would say FoBAB is the exception because no one wants a barrel aged pale ale.

 

[Phischy1]

The Bistro would like to have a word. Nearly 20 years now.

http://www.the-bistro.com/

I went to this one a decade ago.

 

[sacrelicio]

Pretty sure regular Darkness is not BA. There was one year where they blended some BA Darkness in with the regular release, but that was about 5 or 6 years ago.

BA Darkness (gold wax - so you know it's good) is pretty widely is released sometime after regular Darkness. It's got a $35 price tag. At least that is what it is here in Wisconsin.

Regular is not BA and retails anywhere from 18 dollars and up. Many places have it for 20+. I bet a few dollars of the MSRP is just for the screenprinted bottle (unique every year and fairly cool IMO).

2014 was like 2 or 3 months barrel aged, the one exception to the non-BA rule, and I think it was second use barrels used for Eight, and kind if an experiment, since they had to move the batch to the new facility or something? That was the rumor anyways.

2015 was the first year that they did an actual separate BA release and it was awesome, I think it saw a year in barrels or close to it. Subsequent years have been fairly weak, 3 months of aging or something like that.

 

[sacrelicio]

Oh no